Henry Franklin Kilburn
Henry Franklin Kilburn, FAIA, (February 20, 1844 in Ashfield, Massachusetts – September 26, 1905 in New York City) was an American architect active in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century New York City who is particularly associated with church architecture. Although he practiced for a number of years, only toward the end of his career, however, was Kilburn primarily active with ecclesiastical commissions; the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission reports that "Kilburn was also the architect of many private residences, factories, stables, and theaters in Manhattan."
Also recorded as Henry F. Kilburn
Henry Franklin Kilburn

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- Name
- Henry Franklin Kilburn
- Born
- February 20, 1844
- Birthplace
- Ashfield, Massachusetts
- Died
- 26 September 1905
- Place of death
- New York City, New York
- Known for
- Architect
- Nationality
- United States
- Honours
- Fellow of the American Institute of Architects
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Henry Franklin Kilburn, FAIA, (February 20, 1844 in Ashfield, Massachusetts – September 26, 1905 in New York City) was an American architect active in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century New York City who is particularly associated with church architecture. Although he practiced for a number of years, only toward the end of his career, however, was Kilburn primarily active with ecclesiastical commissions; the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission reports that "Kilburn was also the architect of many private residences, factories, stables, and theaters in Manhattan."
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Henry Franklin Kilburn (1844–1905) was an architect, of American nationality. The architect was born in Ashfield and died in New York City. Honours include Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q15437942 · wikipedia · Henry Franklin Kilburn
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Henry Franklin Kilburn • Born — February 20, 1844 • Birthplace — Ashfield, Massachusetts • Died — 26 September 1905 • Place of death — New York City, New York • Known for — Architect
Life
Life
Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Kilburn served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war, he went to study and practice architecture in Northampton, Massachusetts. Around 1869, at the age of twenty-five, he set up a practice in New York City and was elected a practicing member of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1896. "He was a member of the Architectural League of New York and a number of clubs and associations. He was elected an Associate of the American Institute of Architects in 1886 and a Fellow in 1889." Much of Kilburn's work has not survived, and that which has, has been under threat of demolition or general dilapidation for many years. He worked in a variety of styles, producing all derivative work of other fashionable architect's styles, including Richardsonian Romanesque and Stanford White's refined Italianate style. This was often due to his designing the more substantial additions or extensions of buildings. He established his practice in New York City around 1865.
Works
Works
• Hampshire County Courthouse (Northampton, Mass.) (completed 1886), 99 Main Street • Mt. Moriah Baptist Church (New York City) (1888), 2050 Fifth Avenue • West-Park Presbyterian Church (1889–1890), New York City, New York (Here he did the main corner church, an extension and stylistic continuation of Leopold Eidlitz's earlier "muscular" Romanesque chapel, built for around $100,000.) • St. James Episcopal Church Parish House (Bronx, New York) (1891–1892), 2500 Jerome Avenue (designated a New York City Landmark) • West End Presbyterian Church (1891), Amsterdam Ave. & 105th St. New York • Colonial Club, 127 West 72nd Street (1892, demolished c.2006), New York City • Residence of Mrs. Katherine Lorillard Kernochan, (c1896, demolished c.1927 for construction of 825 Fifth Avenue) 824 Fifth Avenue, New York City. • Carrollcliffe (1897–1910), a large private residence in Tarrytown, NY built to resemble a European castle. • Pabst Hotel (1899, demolished 1902), 153 West 42nd Street, Manhattan • Durland Riding Academy (New York City) (1900–1901), 8 West 67th Street, Upper West Side, in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District) • Street and Smith Publishing House (1904), a seven-story brick and stone publishing house on the northeast corner of Seventh Avenue and 15th Street (built for Street & Smith on 231 William Street for $225,000) • Residence of Walter A. and Jean S. Bass (1890), 615 Little Silver Point Road, Little Silver, NJ (With the firm A.L.C Marsh and Associates. Cost of $4480) • Clapp Memorial Library (Belchertown, MA) (1887), 19 South Main St.
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — West-Park Presbyterian Church, New York City (in 2010) • Illustration — West-Park Presbyterian Church entrance detail (in 1891) • Illustration — West End Presbyterian Church, New York City (in 1893) • Illustration — West End Presbyterian Church, New York City (in 2009) • Illustration — The Colonial Club Dining Room (photographed in 1894 before its demolition in 2006) • Illustration — Street & Smith Book Department (in 1906) • Illustration — Pabst Hotel, 42nd Street, New York City (in 1902)
Works and production
Works and production
Catalogued output is recorded as follows.

Pabst Hotel on 42nd Street, from the southeast. The four-story buildings sharing the hotel's block have been demolished for subway construction. On the right in the photograph, from 43rd to 44th Streets on the west side of 7th Avenue, where decades later the Paramount Building was built, stands a block of four-story residential buildings called the Barrington Apartments. Also across 7th Avenue is
Unknown photographer Unknown photographer photographer · Watson, Edward B. and Edmond V. Gillon, Jr. (1976). New York Then and Now (Mineola, N. Y.: Courier Dover Publications) ISBN: 9780486131061. p. 21. Preview online at Google Books.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Ashfield.
Birth place
New York City.
Death place
Collections and holdings
Where the work is held
Collections and holdings
Institutional holdings are recorded as follows.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q15437942: Henry Franklin Kilburn
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Henry Franklin Kilburn”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. "Designation List 425"
- 2.Mosette Broderick and Lauren Jacobi (Committee to Preserve West-Park Presbyterian Church of the Friends of West-Park, a not-for-profit NY State corporation). Landmark: West-Park Presbyterian Church; West-Park Presbyterian: Landmarking a Cultural and Architectural Icon (October 2007)
- 3.archINFORM. Eng.archinform.net.
- 4.BREWER SPEAKS FOR LANDMARKING WEST SIDE GEMS.
- 5.The Upper West Side Book: 165 West 86th Street. Thecityreview.com.
- 6.Wired New York Forum. Wirednewyork.com.
- 7.770, 772, 773. 1880.
- 8.Robert Miles Parker, The Upper West Side, New York (New York City: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), p.125
- 9.Norval White and Elliot Willensky, AIA Guide to New York City, rev. ed., (New York: Collier Books, 1978), p.196.
- 10.Kathryn E. Holliden, Leopold Eidlitz: Architecture and Idealism in the Gilded Age (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2008), p.171
- 11.Thomas Vitullo-Martin, co-chair of Friends of West-Park, quoted in Nadine Brozan, “Sacred Space But Earthly Challenges,” The New York Times (25 April 2004)
- 12.Dolkart, Andrew S. Guide to New York City Landmarks. John Wiley & Sons. 313. 2004. 9780471369004.
- 13.New York Public Library NYPL Digital Library
- 14.New York Public Library NYPL Digital Library
- 15.COLONIAL CLUB'S HOT ELECTION.; Four Tickets in the Field and Plenty of Hard Work Done. The New York Times. May 2, 1893.
- 16.The World Almanac 1892 and Book of Facts (New York: Press Publishing, 1892), p.390.
- 17.The Upper East Side Book: 825 Fifth Avenue. Thecityreview.com.
- 18.New York Public Library NYPL Digital Gallery
- 19.Historic Hotels of America | Historic Hotels USA. Historichotels.org.
- 20.Office for Metropolitan History. MetroHistory.com. 24 February 2010.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q15437942: Henry Franklin KilburnWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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